A large column of heavy black smoke drifts from the fire scene, at times blotting out the sun at the fire scene. The column of smoke was visiblew from several miles away.
, Photo by ALAN WARD / DAILY PRESS

In a file photo from 2001, a "cornfield" buck greets visitors to the Unadilla Store & Deli, the deer shot by former store owner Alex Lyttle, mounted and enclosed in a display case. On top of the display case are various photos people have taken in the area, newspaper clippings and historic accounts of the area.
GILLIS BENEDICT/LIVINGSTON DAILY

Local tour guide John Colone gives a bit of inside information to tourist Judy Slattery with fellow tourist Marilyn Helke following from the tour bus to the Unadilla Store in 2013.
GILLIS BENEDICT/LIVINGSTON DAILY

Hamburg Twp Fire Chief Mark Hogrebe peers into a pit tangled with all that is left of the destroyed Unadilla Store on Wednesday morning. Hogrebe and fire officials from Unadilla, Putnam and Green Oak Townships gathered at the scene to investigate the cause of the fire.
, Photo by ALAN WARD / DAILY PRESS

Unadilla Store owners Mike and Jim Harbert are saddened by loss of their Unadilla Twp. business, a long time mainstay in the area.

11:15 a.m. UPDATE - Unadilla Fire Chief Mark Schroeder said investigators had an initial walk-through of the rubble at the Unadilla Store.

Due to some unstable parts, Schroeder said the investigation will go slow, and he doesn't expect a cause to be determined today.

10 a.m. UPDATE - Fire investigators and Consumers Energy staff arrived at the Unadilla Store to begin an investigation into the blaze which destroyed the business Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the injured Unadilla firefighter said he expected it was going to be a normal fire when he arrived at the country store. He only saw smoke and opened a door to let the fire breathe so he could see it.

He said there was a flash of fire which slammed the door shut, and the pressure built.

Then came a "smoke explosion" which blew off the door and knocked out a brick wall, which the firefighter said fell on top of him.

Chief Mark Schroeder of the Unadilla Township Fire Department said investigators will be looking for the cause of the blaze. He said it's believed to have started on the second floor.

ORIGINAL STORY:

A country store that survived a 1914 tornado that wiped out much of Unadilla Township burned in a blaze that also destroyed a home and sent a firefighter to the hospital Tuesday afternoon.

Chief Mark Schroeder of the Unadilla Township Fire Department said two firefighters had walked up the steps to the Unadilla Store at 13329 Unadilla Road, near Kaiser Road and about 6 miles west-southwest of Pinckney, and had just reached the platform to enter the building when the structure collapsed. One firefighter was able to move, but a collapsing brick wall struck the second firefighter. Click below for photos from the scene:

The Unadilla firefighter was taken to the University of Michigan Medical Center for back and neck injuries, the chief said. He was last known to be in good condition as he waited for a CAT scan.

Mike Harbert, who manages the Unadilla Store, which is owned by his parents, said he had been in the store nearly two hours when he began to smell "wood burning." He assumed a neighbor was using a wood-burning furnace and thought nothing of it until he saw the smoke.

"The smoke was stinging my eyes," Harbert said as he stood watching firefighters from nine departments battle the 12:55 p.m. blaze. "We got out and called 911."

Dave Gonyon, a neighbor who was visiting the store, added: "The floor felt hot."

Schroeder said the cause and origin of the fire were unknown.

It appears to have started in or near the country store and hit a natural gas line between the store and a house.

Firefighters were unable to get to the space between the home and store until a Consumers Energy work crew arrived at the scene to shut off the gas line's supply.

The fire spread to the house next door, getting into the attic. Firefighters tried to make entry into the home, but were pushed back, Schroeder said.

"The house next door stands, but it got heavy fire in the upstairs and attic and I will term it a loss," the chief said, noting that the damage is so extensive it may be difficult to determine a cause.

The fire burned so hotly that residents and emergency crews reported seeing the black plumes of smoke, which shot about 200 feet in the air, from 10 miles to 12 miles away.

Initial reports from the scene indicated there was an explosion, but Schroeder said that was not true. There were propane tanks near the fire, but they did not ignite.

The rural location and lack of fire hydrants, however, made the fire difficult to fight. It was not called under control until sometime after 3 p.m.

Area residents gathered outside watching the blaze said it felt like a piece of their childhood was gone because the Unadilla Store is the heart of Unadilla Township.

Harbert said the store was built in the 1870s and his parents have owned it for 17 years.

The store survived the 1914 tornado that wiped out much of the Unadilla community, local historian Milt Charboneau of the Howell Area Archives said.

Jeff Boyd, Livingston County 911 Central Dispatch and EMS director, said he remembers delivering milk with his father to the store when he was 8 years old in the early 1960s.

Brian Teneyck said he and friends used to canoe up the creek, which runs alongside the store and feeds into the Patterson Lake chain, just to purchase "a penny candy" from the Unadilla Store.

"You had to see the store to love it," he said.

The store, which advertised it has a "little of everything," featured 150 antlers that were brought in and mounted by hunters. It served "good food" and "good conversation," area residents agreed.

Gonyon said it was common for neighbors to gather at the store for an egg breakfast and conversation while seated at one of the checkered tables.

"It was the place to be," he said.

Ashley Roberts, who lived in an apartment in the home next to the store, said she also smelled what she thought was a wood burner and when she checked twice, she saw nothing. However, when she checked a third time, she saw "a lot of smoke" and ran outside with only the clothes she was wearing.

The 21-year-old woman, who had moved into the apartment about three months ago, cried as she talked about her 11-year-old cat, which she feared was still in the blaze.

"It was just smoke," she said as if still disbelieving what her eyes could see.

Battling the blaze were firefighters from Unadilla, Putnam, Green Oak and Hamburg townships as well as Fowlerville, Howell, Brighton, Chelsea and Stockbridge. Livingston County EMS also was on scene and the American Red Cross is also helping.